Mattie McGrath warns hotel conversions threaten Tipperary tourism

Let's dive into the discussions shaping the nation. The Drum House Hotel, a landmark and a beacon of our tourism industry. And now Kilcorn Hotel, a beautiful Kilcorn large hotel in operation for over 125 years. Wonderful staff there as well, and I sympathise and sympathise with them. And Heron's Hotel in Clonmel, Charles Barranconi fame, our first transport system. Right through the heart of Tipperary, hotels for tourism. We have 25% reduction in tourism figures and visitors in January, we have 30% in February. If this is not alarming to you and to the Government, it is shocking. And I can't understand from the life of me why this has been moved from the Department of Integration, which I welcome, to the Department of Justice. And Minister O'Callaghan hasn't seen sight of it yet. Neither has Minister Colin Brophy, and I thank both of them for engaging with me. And now I have a topic here today, and the Minister for Education, where it rests at the moment, is not here either. This is a shocking indictment on a democratic process here in Dáil Eireann, accountability. That none of you are here, and you are coming in here as a General Minister, no disrespect to you, I wish you well, but this is not good enough for this to happen. And the only yellow you have is procurement, I know. And Kilcorden Hotel, as we said, the subvertage has been played there with shady owners, and we don't know who owns them. But now we've found out that the genie is out of the bottle, because they have applied for Section 5 to Tipperary County Council, and the owners have been fleshed out. But we know who they are, we know what they are, we know what they want is a quick buck, not interested in the community. Kilcorden Hotel, like Dundrum House Hotel, has been home for so many christenings, so many first communal confirmations. Indeed, Minister Brophy tells me that he was appeased by the wedding for his late uncle, and his aunt was still alive in Art Finland, the O'Brien family, when he was in Boca Logue in Kilcorden. Dundrum, the Crow family, is a magnificent resource, which is riddled with court cases at the moment. It was a hearing yesterday by the receiver. And so, a shady owner there, to put in mildly, has that as well. It's been contested, and the winnings from America, who own it, are trying to get him out of the place. So, the communities aren't able for this. There are no GP services. There are no transport services. Kilcorden is about six miles from Caire, and the parish of Bellanubi, a wonderful beacon, and there's a great staff, and just off the motorway. Great location to improve our potential for visitor numbers in Tipperary, and the fear factor of the Tipperary people for anyone who comes wherever they're from. And we're not anti-migration either, but to do this is reckless in the extreme. To take businesses that are longstanding, given employment, given a valuable resource to the county, and to all who come there to visit, and to do this and take it over like this, and with no consultation. I've had some engagement from Evelyn Bunn, from the engagement team, but there's no consultation. And this is the situation of, and you're in procurement, of telling the public representatives after a contract is signed, is not a shot of scandalous blackguarding, and indeed a disrespect for elected representatives who are trying to deal with the community. So the communities are there are good people. In Dundrum as well, as I said, they have been at the gates now for 225 days, I think, or more. And they are standing there with a peaceful protest, not anti, and as I said, to people who are there, the Ukrainians were integrated and working. Now you're turning that into an IPA centre. This is reckless, as I said, endangerment of an industry, reckless endangerment of communities. You have it in your own documentation that you can't change the demographics by more than 5% in an area with an IPA centre. Dundrum has been changed by 125% because there's 220 people and the last census in the village, and you're putting in over 280. Kilcorn is something similar. A rural parish, rural area, great community, great people. Where's the spirit of the Gay and the Nath, the Colonel Macaela? If we're trying to do this dividing, you are doing here, and it's not fair either to the people who go in there. No transport, no GP services, nothing else. So, Minister, I hope you have a good answer for me here today, because the people want answers of me, and I'm looking for answers of you. Minister, you have four minutes. Thank you very much, Deputy McGrath, for raising this issue, which I'm taking on behalf of the Minister for Equality, Disability and Youth, Norma Foley, who can't be with us this morning. Ireland currently provides accommodation to approximately 33,000 people applying for international protection, and has also welcomed over 114,000 people from Ukraine since 2022. Our accommodation systems have had to expand at a very rapid pace over the last two years, in response to this sharp increase in need amongst both those groups. The 114,000 people arriving from Ukraine, combined with the significant increase in applications for international protection since 2022, have come at a time when accommodation in Ireland is at a really short supply across all dimensions. And in addition to the Ukraine response, the increase in applications for international protection places a legal duty on the state to accommodate the additional applicants. Emergency centres have been opened in all parts of the country, and intensive efforts were made as part of a whole-of-government response to ensure people in need were provided with shelter and support. Over the last three years, against this backdrop of unique events in Ukraine, against the backdrop of increased need and the acute shortage of accommodation, it has not been possible for the Department to apply specific policies in relation to geographic distribution of accommodation centres. And because of that, every suitable offer of much needed accommodation has had to be both considered and appraised. However, in future, it is hoped that there will be a greater focus on dispersal strategies as we work towards a more stable and sustainable accommodation system in this sector. The International Protection Procurement Service, IPPS, tried to ensure in as far as possible that international protection applicants are not located in remote locations. However, given the demand for accommodation over recent years, this has not always been possible. The Department engages with relevant stakeholders and accommodation service providers as appropriate to ensure that international protection applicants placed in accommodation areas that are far away from urban centres, from towns or villages, have access to transportation as a basic requirement. And in situations where an accommodation centre is located without public transport links within a two-kilometre radius, when there is manageable access, IPPS will ensure that a shuttle service to a nearby town or public transport stop is provided. The agreement to not contract IPPS accommodation in a given town's only operating hotel was accepted by government during this period of intense need. And it was agreed on the basis of not removing an important current amenity for public use. And I know that's what you're saying, that many of the hotels you've listed here today were amenities up until the point of contract. And I suppose just to say that this was based on not accepting new contracts, where that would take a town's last operating hotel out of public use for events, for holidays, business days, day-to-day use by the town in terms of food socialising or leisure, or the events that you've named here, confirmations and communions, and all those important parts of growing up. Where a former hotel or tourist accommodation has not been in public use for some time, or has been contracted to the department to accommodate people fleeing the war in Ukraine. The approach has been to consider offers from such a property as it was not providing a hotel facility in that community. Where huge efforts are underway to source and to bring into use suitable long-term international protection accommodation facilities in line with comprehensive accommodation strategy. And just to say, because I see the clock counting down, just to say, because I think you'd be particularly interested in this, figures from fall to Ireland last year show that 12,000 beds were returned from use by the department's Ukraine response to tourism specifically. And among them were 15,000 beds returned to private use and returned to private use by the Ukraine team in that period too. And I suppose, I hope that shows that this will allow growth of the tourism sector in areas like Dundrum and like Tipperary, with an acknowledgement of the contribution made by these areas and providers to support the historic humanitarian and state response to people fleeing the war in Ukraine. There is further detail there, and I think it's been provided to you by Russia. Minister, much of what you read out to me there in that reply is simply untrue. Because Dundrum and the Dundrum House Hotel, the famous Crow family, for generations, and that hotel was the only hotel, not only in Dundrum village, but in the whole West Tipperary community. So that's tons on his head what your Duk Patron policy is. Kilcorn is operating, we have the wonderful Care House Hotel and Care, operated by Robert and David, two co-owners, doing a great service. And they've often told me as well, they could make a lot more money out of this. The fact is you're paying too much per night per person for this. It's so lucrative that unsavoury individuals are just exploiting it and exploiting the people to come in there. You mentioned transport then. People can't get transport in Kilcorn and Balladubi from the TA5, but yet you're prepared to put on a public transport service for the IPAS people. That is absolute discrimination against Irish people of my South Tipperary. And I want to know why there's such an attack on Tipperary. We didn't play our part in a war of independence, a huge part in the first shots fired in the war of independence. And indeed, here we are now. All our hotel tours, right through Vane, through the middle of the county, have been taken up. And Department of Subfitage. And the biggest pass of all is now we're 120 days after the government formed, and we're still having the Minister in charge of it. The Minister of Education doesn't want anything to do with it. She's not even here this morning. It's in her lap at the moment, but it's meant to be transposed to the Department of Justice. And I do welcome Jim O'Callaghan and his comments and his actions so far, and the fact that up to 81% of IPAS applications this year have been refused. And I welcome that, because we were blindfolded before the borders were like sims. But this messing around with it, I was delighted I went away from Roderick O'Callaghan's department, but now that is a no man's land. And you have unsavoury individuals explaining this situation, and you have Evelyn Brown and her team doing her best to engage with us. But engagement after the fact is not acceptable in a democratic society. There must be engagement. And politicians, local councils and ourselves must be consulted. How are we going to explain to the people, if we don't know, and this kind of sub-for-tels that are going on, and the deceit, and the shady deals that have been done with people who are unsavoury characters, in both hotels I'm talking about here. And that's putting it mildly. Thank you. The Minister. Thank you very much, Deputy. With respect, I disagree. I don't think that this is an attack on Tipperary, and I don't believe that this is in no man's land. We have two ministers engaging in this really important priority area for government, and the relevant Minister for Accommodation is Minister Norma Foley, who is Minister for Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. And I will absolutely pass your feedback on to her. But having said that, I think the important thing to say, because your initial remarks were very specific in relation to tourism, and wanting to protect tourism, and get as many of those beds back into tourism, just to reiterate that last year, 12,000 beds were returned from use by the department's Ukrainian team to tourism. And I think that's a progressive step. Accommodation under the Comprehensive Accommodation Strategy, CAS, includes the use of state-owned land for emergency, tented, prefab and modular units, the conversion of commercial buildings, and the targeted purchasing of turnkey properties also. And this will include the design and the building of new reception and integration centres, and the upgrading of IPAS centres. It will be supplemented as required by high standard commercial providers also. But as developing these more sustainable, state-owned accommodation systems under this strategy will take time, the commissioning of emergency commercial accommodation will continue to be a feature in the short to medium term. However, this accommodation will be concentrated on the short-term basis, and if numbers drop, it can then be decommissioned as contracts expire. As set out in the strategy that was launched last March, by adopting the mixed accommodation plan, the government will begin to gradually move away from the reactive crisis response, which I know you have huge concerns with. And that will ultimately allow the state to regain long-term certainty over accommodation availability. It will allow us to adjust commercial accommodation stock as required to meet the needs, and it will mean a far greater degree of control over geographic distribution, allocation and dispersion of applicants. It will also mean much greater lead-in time to the opening of new centres, which will allow for enhanced and more effective local communication. And just acknowledge Evelyn and her team who have been in touch with you, and the development of those integration links is really important. The minister has to, the work is being progressed as part of the development of a new migration integration strategy, which will shortly transfer from the department to the Department of Justice, and that move is expected in the coming weeks. Like, share, and subscribe, and let us know your thoughts in the comments. We'd love to hear from you.